


A timeless girl in a red cardigan

by seaofsolitude



Category: Psycho-Pass
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-28
Updated: 2015-06-28
Packaged: 2018-04-06 15:13:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4226682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seaofsolitude/pseuds/seaofsolitude
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>College Au ~~ for no reason ~~</p>
            </blockquote>





	A timeless girl in a red cardigan

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr.

“Kougami-kun? Kougami-kun?” The man sighed upon hearing no answer. Taking a few steps forward, he cleared his throat loudly. “Kougami Shinya-kun, this is your last warning.”

Shinya looked up, as if only now seeing the man in front of him. Not just any man, but the principal of the university.

“If I see you in a fight one more time,” the principal jabbed a finger at him, “You’d better say goodbye to this place. Have I made myself clear?”

Shinya fought back a sigh. The man wasn’t joking around, and he hardly could be blamed. Their ‘meetings’ had increased greatly in the past few weeks. Shinya had tried many times to explain the reason behind them, but it’s not like anyone would believe him. Not Kougami Shinya; the so-called troublemaker of the campus.

“Did I make myself clear?” The man insisted, almost losing his composure.

A pause. An intense gaze.

“Yes, you did, sir.” Shinya finally answered.

The principal’s shoulders slumped and he let out a resigned sigh. “Kougami-kun, I’ve given you plenty of time so you could mourn. I respect your situation, I really do, but this is getting out of hand! You’re not a kid anymore; you’re twenty-two!”

Shinya shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Oh, how he hated that conversation.

“Please, Nakamura-san,” Shinya massaged his temples. “For the tenth time, this has nothing to do with my parents.”

“Then act like a decent man!” the principal shouted. “People die every single day, that’s hardly news!” The words had barely left his lips, but regret was already painting his face. Nakamura was well aware that what he had just said was improper, and no excuse could change that.

Shinya found himself wide-eyed and unable to retort.

“May I leave now?” he didn’t want to sound annoyed, but it was impossible. “Please?”

Nakamura hesitated for a moment before nodding.

Shinya unceremoniously grabbed his bag and stormed out of the room.

 

—

 

The winter air hit Shinya’s cheeks harshly when he opened the building’s door. Instantly touching his swollen face, he winced. It wasn’t the first fight he had gotten himself into, but it was surely one of the most violent. His face would probably hurt for days.

The campus looked gray and dull as Shinya walked towards the exit. His feet felt heavy on the stone ground, but surprisingly so, they didn’t make a sound. For a brief moment, he wished he didn’t have to go back to that place ever again. Shinya felt far too restless in there.

His thoughts were unbearably messy and loud, but everything came to a stop when he saw her.

She was sitting on a bench next to a leafless tree. Her red cardigan was a stark contrast to the bleak garden, and her inked black hair swayed softly around her small face.

A dead tree. A lonely girl. A rather melancholic view.

Shinya walked towards her, watching as she looked up and turned her head slightly to his direction.

“Is that you, Kougami-san?” Her voice, usually gentle, sounded uncertain.

Shinya tried to smile but his cheek throbbed, causing him to frown instead.

“Yeah, it’s me,” he replied. Shinya had told her to drop the “-san” many times, but she remained adamant in keeping it.

“I-I’m so sorry for causing you trouble once again!” she half-turned her body in a useless attempt to look at him.

He sighed inwardly, slowly walking to the bench and sitting down.

“Akane,” Shinya said the name like a precious secret. The word lingered on his lips. Her unfocused eyes immediately found a path in the dark, and her head followed the sound of his voice. “Hey, it’s not your fault.”

There.

Akane stared at him, although nothing could be seen. Shinya’s voice sounded a little distant, but she knew exactly where he was. He had guided her there with a few words, just like he had done when they first met. Most people didn’t have any patience to wait for her but, somehow, Shinya had.

“Those guys are jerks who think you’re helpless just because you can’t see,” he said softly. Absentmindedly, Shinya thought he had never spoken that gently to anyone. Not even to the parents he had once loved so much, but they were now lost in the pages of his past.

“I know that,” she breathed out. “You’re the one who doesn’t seem to understand! If you punch every person who mocks me for being blind, you’ll be expelled sooner than you think!”

Shinya couldn’t help but smile, but the action was followed by his own protest, “Ow,”

Akane frowned, “What happened? Oh, they punched you back this time, didn’t they?”

“What do you expect me to do?” Shinya said while rubbing his face lightly. “Just stand there and watch them being assholes to you? Saying things which are obviously not true?”

“Their opinion doesn’t matter to me,” she shrugged, indifferently.

“Too bad it matters to me.” Shinya muttered to himself.

“I heard that,” Akane sounded slightly amused.

The air was painfully cold. The sky was impossibly gray. It was as though the weather was mirroring Shinya’s mood, trying to express what he couldn’t.

“You’re my friend,” he said, quietly. Those words carried a heavy meaning.

Akane wasn’t a disabled person he felt sorry for, as many people thought. It was actually quite the opposite; Shinya came to realize he was more incapable than her.

Before losing his parents, he used to think he had everything he could wish for. Shinya was smart, but he never thought for himself – he didn’t think he needed to. He was studying to be a doctor; like his father, like his grandfather, and the man before him.

That was it. His whole life was predetermined by his bloodline. Shinya was a mere continuation of the past, a supposedly fair trade for his wealthy life.

But when that fateful accident took his parents away, it took that part of Shinya with them. The part that was okay with just being a social construct. He was then left shattered, miserable, unrecognizable; but wanting to find a new meaning to his petty existence.

It didn’t go well. Shinya started to question everything, and the answers he found left him angrier than ever.

People bully other people because they don’t meet their standards. They judge, they lie, because apparently, someone told them it was okay to do so.

Whoever makes fun of a blind girl; they who hide her books, and steal her clothes – all ultimately unpunished – deserve to be punched in the face. That was the conclusion Shinya had arrived at.

And that’s how he had gone from a ‘boring guy’ to ‘troublemaker’, all in a matter of weeks. Not that he really minded. Those labels meant nothing to him.

Now, there he was. Staring at a girl who stared steadily back at him, except that she couldn’t really see him. That didn’t change the fact that she was brave; she didn’t hide her face from anyone. Shinya wasn’t an exception.

“You’re my friend too,” Akane said softly. “In the same way you care about me, I care about you. I don’t want you to be expelled, especially not because of me.”

Shinya rested his hands on the bench and looked up. “It wouldn’t be a bad thing, you know,” his breath was visible in the air. “I don’t know what I want anymore, much less who I am.”

Surprisingly, Akane laughed. “What’s this? An existential crisis at twenty-two?”

“Guess so,” Shinya felt his cheeks blush. “Never had one before.”

“It’s alright, it happens to everyone at some point. But Kougami-san,” her tone of voice was suddenly serious. He faced her immediately. “If you give up now, you’ll never know. The world doesn’t wait for our wounds to heal, it keeps spinning and changing, regardless of whether you can follow it or not. That’s just how it works. Can you keep up?”

That was one of those times when Shinya was almost sure Akane wasn’t really blind. He could’ve just been imagining things, but her unseeing eyes sparkled when she looked at him – right through him. It was as though Akane could see the fears and sorrows inside his soul. She washed them away with care and gentleness almost effortlessly; turning his deep-rooted rage into pure calmness, all at once.

As the first snowflakes slowly fell around them, Shinya thought that Akane had a way of dealing with people and life in a way that just didn’t belong to this time and place.

 

A timeless girl in a red cardigan.

 

“I think I can,” he whispered.

 

Akane was right. The world keeps moving on. Everyone forgets, even if you don’t.

 

 

After some time, they gradually stopped seeing each other. Shinya followed Akane’s advice and continued studying medicine. His classes took a lot of time, but sometimes, he would slip away and walk around the campus in search of her.

No one knew of her whereabouts.  
Some dared to say she had quit.

Shinya never saw her in that garden again.  
He eventually stopped searching.

 

Shinya was thankful for everything Akane had said to him. The impact that their short friendship caused in his life left scars that would never fade. Shinya was okay with that. He liked to remind himself, every single day, that a girl who lived in the dark helped him see how bright the world could be.

 

A small gesture to soothe a small soul.

A girl with a meaning that no one knows.

Once upon a time, Shinya caught a glimpse in the snow.

 

Fin.


End file.
